War Machine: UFC cut me over declined fight, Evan Tanner comments

War Machine (5-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), “The Ultimate Fighter 6″ cast member previously known as Jon Koppenhaver before he legally changed his name, has been dropped by the UFC in the wake up a controversial web posting the fighter made regarding the death of former UFC champion Evan Tanner.

War Machine said he recently turned down a fight — one with an opponent who had little name recognition — and that the decision may have also played a part in the UFC’s decision to drop him from the roster.

Earlier this week, the mixed-martial-arts community learned that former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner died while camping out in a California desert. Initially, little was known about the situation other than a body had been found and that it was believed to be Tanner.

Upon learning of the news, Koppenhaver posted a MySpace bulletin in which he speculated that Tanner had committed suicide and that he may have been depressed over the fact that his career might be over and that he had little to show financially for all his greatness.

“What else is an underpaid fighter supposed to do at the end of his career?” War Machine wrote in the posting. “Cash in his 401K? Collect social security? Start to work some [expletive] job for 10 bucks an hour? (This) [expletive] ain’t boxing, and if you’re not Chuck [Liddell] or Tito Ortiz, you don’t get paid dick.”

When later reports suggested Tanner didn’t kill himself, War Machine took down the posting. However, he still believes there is more to the story.

“I still believe in my heart it was a suicide,” War Machine said. “Whether or not — maybe he didn’t shoot himself in the head, but I think he went up there maybe with plans not to come back. I just think he was a great fighter, he was a champion, and I guarantee you that he never made [expletive] for money. I guarantee you that he was at the end of his rope. There was no chance for a comeback. He was depressed, guaranteed. He had just lost to Kendall [Grove]. He was getting older. He knows he has no retirement plan. He had nothing, dude. That could be the outcome for a lot of fighters, myself included. I for damn sure guarantee you that if I’m in my 40s and I didn’t make enough money and I don’t have my own gym to support myself or whatever, I’ll probably kill myself too.”

“I think he didn’t maybe really want to kill himself outright and hurt his family and the people around him. Maybe he just went on a one-way mission and didn’t plan on coming back, but he didn’t kill himself outright. … He may have made it like an accident. I think he planned on not coming back.”

Of course, it’s worth noting that California authorities believe Tanner died of heat exhaustion (temperatures near his campsite reached nearly 115 degrees) and that he had, indeed, called his friends for help. Additionally, a good friend of Tanner’s who first confirmed the fighter’s death with MMAjunkie.com said she spoke to Tanner a week prior to his death and that he didn’t seem suicidal.

War Machine, who’s no stranger to controversial — and sometime strange — online ramblings, said he decided to take down the posting after more information came to light and after so many people reacted negatively to his writings.

“I took it down because … when I first wrote it, I didn’t know the whole story,” War Machine said. “I had just heard that they had found his bike and that they had found him in the middle of nowhere. I thought, ‘[Expletive] man. He must’ve killed himself. He must’ve been depressed. That’s what I figured, so that’s why I wrote that bulletin. The once I got the [expletive] comments and they got the story out where he said he was going on a quest and all that stuff and it was debatable on whether it was an accident or not, I took it down.”

UFC officials had caught wind of the posting, and the final straw came a few days later when War Machine was offered a fight with Brandon Wolff. War Machine said he was originally set to fight Matt Arroyo, but for reasons he still doesn’t know, the fight was scrapped. Instead, his manager called him back with a new opponent’s name.

“He said, ‘They want you to fight Brandon Wolff,'” War Machine said. “I said, ‘Who in the hell if [Brandon] Wolff?’ So, I looked him up and made some phone calls. I’ve got a lot of friends in Hawaii — ‘Rude Boy’ (Troy Mandaloniz), Kendall Grove, my trainer. I got the same thing from everybody. They all said the guy is savage, sick, tough as hell, a really tough fighter and a really tough fight. Basically we all came to the conclusion that I have nothing to gain from the fight. He has no name, no fans other than the guys in Hawaii, and I thought that if I beat him, then no one is really going to care because I beat someone with no name. And if I lose, everyone is going to say I lost to a guy with no name, so I said [expletive] that.

War Machine said that didn’t sit well with UFC Vice President of Talent Relations (and UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva.

“They went back to the UFC, and Joe Silva said, ‘No. That’s the best fight I’ve got for him; take it or leave it,'” War Machine said. “It
was kind of threatening — like if I didn’t take it, they’d kick me out of the UFC. So, I was kind of pissed off and decided to play hard ball too. I said I’d wait for another opponent.”

After learning that the UFC wanted a Mandaloniz vs. Matthew Riddle fight, War Machine had his manager call Silva when he found out that Mandaloniz wouldn’t be ready for the bout.

“Joe Silva — he was pretty much on a power trip,” War Machine said. “He was like, ‘I already told you that I already have Wolff for War Machine. I don’t know who he is thinking he’s negotiating with me. You know what? I’m sick of this guy.’ Then he brought up the Evan Tanner thing. ‘He made a dumbass comment on Evan Tanner. He’s not supporting the UFC. You know what? War Machine is cut.’ And they cut me.”

He found out just this past Wednesday.

Koppenhaver had signed a 10-fight deal with the UFC after appearing on “TUF.”

However, War Machine is looking for the silver lining in all this. He’s already secured a main-event slot on a small show that takes place in mid-October.

“I fought (in) some small shows, and then I was on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ so, I never really got a lot of experience, so I’m still learning a lot,” War Machine said. “I’m still new, and to be honest, I wasn’t going to be a contender in the UFC anytime soon anyway. This is a way for me to go out there, maybe win a few smaller belts, get some more wins, get my skills up better, and before I know it, after a few years have passed, I’ll be ready to fight anyone. … Plus, I was really surprised by how much money they offered me for a small show.”

War Machine said it was a dream come true to fight in the UFC — and that he’s open to the idea of returning there someday — but he said he needed to keep his integrity intact.

“I’m the kind of guy who’s real independent, and I don’t take [expletive] from anyone,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s Joe Silva or Dana White. I don’t
care who it is. I’m not going to bow down to anyone. … I’m not going to be bullied by anyone.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?